Choosing Your Destination

The Travel Mom's Ultimate Book of Family Travel: Planning, Surviving, and Enjoying Your Vacation Together
by Emily Kaufman

(Page 2 of 2)

Perhaps your heart is set on taking your kids for a first-time trip to New York City. Or your family is gearing up for its first big trip to Disney World. Perhaps you and your family have decided to go as far away as Hawaii! In the chapters ahead, you will be able to gather more and more information about types of vacations - beach vacations, winter sport trips, cruises, extended visits to an all-inclusive resort or city, outdoor adventure trips, and meandering trips that include stops at some of America's hidden treasures. The more variety you see, the more likely you will be able to narrow your choices and come up with the perfect vacation plan for your family's next trip. It's also helpful in selecting a destination to ask your friends, extended family members, and coworkers where they have traveled and which places they have enjoyed as families. Word of mouth is always a great source of travel information.

To decide on your destination, use the selections described in Part 2 to begin your research. Here is a quick overview of the types of vacations described and their general locations:

• Beach vacations in and around New England, the mid-Atlantic states, the southern coast, the Gulf shore, the Great Lakes, California, and Hawaii

• Winter vacations in California, Colorado, Wyoming, Vermont, and Canada

• All-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, Colorado, Florida, and Bali

• Cruises through the islands of the Caribbean and Bahamas, and to Alaska

• Soft adventures such as white-water rafting, dude ranches, Outward Bound experiences, and BackRoad adventures

• Composites across the U.S., including national parks

• Cities including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Memphis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, and London, England

• Hidden treasures in California, Canada, Hawaii, Florida, New York, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin

If you are anxious to get started, by all means skip ahead to Part 2 and read through the specifics about all the destinations. No doubt, you will find at least one that matches all your criteria, and if you happen to find two or three that fit your desires or requirements, you can always take another vacation!

Getting Your Kids Involved

Should you get your kids involved in the decision-making process? That's a matter of both their age (they need to be at least six to have a logical opinion) and you and your parenting style. Do you typically invite your children to influence family decisions? Do you often ask them for their input when choosing a movie, deciding on dinner, or selecting their room color? If so, then it makes sense that you would ask your kids for their input on the type of vacation or its destination. On the other hand, if you and your partner make all family decisions, then your kids might be a bit perplexed if you suddenly ask them where they want to spend their spring vacation.

For those of you who want to include your kids in the decision, I will make one suggestion: Present your children with two or three possible options. There's very good reason behind this idea: Consider the havoc each morning at the breakfast table if you said, "Okay, kids, what do you want to have for breakfast?" Sally would say oatmeal, John would say pancakes, Hillary would say eggs, and Patricia would say waffles. You not only open the door to having to prepare four separate dishes, but you also create chaos that is certainly avoidable. Get the picture? Just as at mealtimes, you're in charge.

Incorporating the kids into the vacation-planning process is a surefire way to get them excited about where they will be going. Even more important, it may be a way to help improve their self-esteem. Kids have little control over what happens in their world on a day-to-day basis. So if you give them a chance to feel as though they have some investment in family decision-making, they come away with a greater sense of worth and the belief that their opinion matters.

Once the location has been determined, get the kids involved in the planning. The Internet is the perfect resource. Have your kids visit Web sites on the destination and take a look to see what interests them. Running a search through an engine like Google or Yahoo using the keywords of the place you are visiting can direct them to loads of great Web sites for fact-finding. And they can ask friends and relatives about the destination, too. You might want to give the kids a say about which amenities they would like when you are determining your accommodations, such as an arcade or a pool with a waterslide.

Consider allowing each of your kids to select one special activity that the family will participate in. Make sure that they understand that even if a specific activity that a sibling selects is not their favorite, they must participate with a good attitude, and everyone will do the same for them. If kids are given a little input into the vacation plans, they will feel a great sense of ownership.

You can also teach your kids some valuable lessons about budgets when planning a vacation. Many children have no idea how much it costs to visit a theme park or participate in other activities when they travel. I recommend setting a daily limit on your kids' spending and making sure they stick to it, with a firm cap on what they can spend. Some people I know encourage their children to earn money toward things they want to buy on vacation, but I prefer to give them a set amount and let them decide how to spend it. Souvenirs are included in this limit; you may want to discuss the idea of souvenirs before the trip begins, so you both clarify the kids' expectations (and spending) and prepare them for these limits.

Copyright © 2006 by Emily Kaufman.

About the Author

Emily Kaufman, aka "The Travel Mom," is the travel contributor for ABC's Good Morning America. In addition to GMA, she has appeared on The View, Good Day Live, and CNN and is a regular contributor to Women's Day magazine. Emily spends most of her time traveling the world in search of terrific family vacations with her children, 13-year-old Gabby and 15-year-old Charlie, and her husband, Sid. She resides in Southern California, but basically lives on a plane.